Rooting the Asus Zenfone Max smartphone is only intended for advanced Android users. Those who know little about the potential dangers on the web should stay away. Others who think they can quickly identify malware and apps that shouldn’t be requesting root permissions can very easily be enticed to root the Asus Zenfone Max — and that’s not a bad thing provided they know what they are doing.

You wouldn’t let a stranger walk up to your door and then let them walk inside your home when he asks to come inside because you instinctively know that would be a dumb move thanks to your life experience. Most of us don’t know technology on the same kind of level as we do our homes, so identifying these same threats in a virtual environment can be more of a challenge to many. For others, it’s simple: don’t grant root permissions to any app you cannot identify when SuperSU (your door bell) asks if you would like to let them in. For the most part, these occurrences are rare, but you can expect a few visits during your tenure with root access.

Those who are up for the challenge can reap the rewards if done correctly. The world of running your Android operating system with administrator permissions opens avenues to powerful applications you cannot use without access to the root file system. There are plenty of these apps to go around, and one of my personal favorites if the Titanium backup app.

REQUIREMENTS

• You will need to watch the YouTube video on how to root the Asus Zenfone Max to see how everything unfolds.
• You will be erasing your system during the guide and will need to backup the data on your smartphone before that happens if you plan on restoring the data again later.

BEFORE WE BEGIN

• You should enable the USB Debugging Mode before you connect the Zenfone Max to the computer by tapping on the Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging Mode. Remember that you will need to unlock the Developer Options menu if it is hidden for your Zenfone Max by tapping on the Settings > About Device > Build Number 7 or more times.

HOW TO ROOT ASUS ZENFONE MAX RUNNING ANDROID 5.0 LOLLIPOP

1. Download the root tools you need from here for the Western World smartphone version.
2. Download the root tools you need from here for the Chinese smartphone version.
3. There’s no reason to install ADB from us this time because it’s packed in with your tools folder. Just make sure you run the ADB driver before you open up your Fastboot or else you will probably get stuck with the “waiting for device” message.
4. Extract all the files to the desktop of the computer.
5. Copy everything from the root folder over to the tools folder.
6. Turn off the Asus Zenfone Max smartphone.
7. Press the Volume Up and Power buttons to boot into fastboot mode.
8. Connect the Zenfone Max to the computer with the USB cable.
9. In the tools folder, hold down the Shift key and right-click the background of the folder.
10. Choose to open a new command window here from the new menu.
11. Type the command: “fastboot erase system”.
12. Type the command: “fastboot flash system system.img”.
13. Wait for a while for the flashing to complete this time — it can take over five minutes until the next command.
14. Type the command: “fastboot reboot”.

In conclusion, that’s all you need to root Asus Zenfone Max smartphones running on the Android 5.0 Lollipop update. Now you can install a custom recovery on the Asus Zenfone Max smartphone to complete your device customization journey.